“Organize and share the things you love.” With this simple direction, Pinterest has morphed into a ridiculously addictive social media site where users share images on digital pinboards. At March we’ve blogged about how Pinterest is used around the world, and how brands are incorporating it into their social media strategies. But the best thing about Pinterest may be its ability to save the media.

According to a study by online sharing tool Shareaholic, Pinterest drives more referral traffic than Twitter. In February, Pinterest surpassed Google+, YouTube, and LinkedIn combined in referral traffic. Essentially, this means that if you’re trying to raise brand awareness by getting people referred to your site, you might want to try Pinterest.

Lifestyle magazines are finding a strong following among Pinterest’s scrapbooking and cooking fans. In a recent Columbia Journalism Review article, a Real Simple magazine online editor said Pinterest sends more referrals to its website than any source besides Google.

Free referrals is great news for publications looking to gain online readership while newspapers’ print circulation continues to decrease. The Wall Street Journal has created a “Quotes” board where editors pin memorable quotes appearing in the newspaper. Users can click on an individual quote to read the full story in which it appeared. Additionally, recognizing the fact that many users don’t come on Pinterest to read hard news, The Huffington Post’s Pinterest page has a “Gah, So Cute!” board with pictures of adorable animals that link to articles.

To find multiple newspapers in one place on Pinterest, check out the “Newspapers Pinning Collaborative” board, where newspapers are invited to pin their original content. Do you think Pinterest will become an essential platform for media sites, or is it just a fad? How do you think newspapers and magazines should display content on Pinterest?

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This post was first published by Rachel Leamon on March Communications’ blog, PR Nonsense.